C o l e

"Cole?" a young Noel had opened Cole's door, forgetting to knock as usual and found his brother by himself in the room.

"Father didn't want me to but I still came. Happy birthday" Noel said as he took a small step in.

"...go away" Cole muttered. He was sitting on his bed whilst hugging knees, staring at the wall with an expressionless look on his face.

He had just finished one of the typically brutal training sessions their father forced them to go through. As usual, Noel cried until the trainer decided to stop and give him a break but that didn't mean it applied to Cole as well.

"Come on, Cole! Don't be sad, it's your birthday" Noel said as he ventured further into his brother's room.

"Don't care" Cole said monotonously. Noel frowned at the cold act his brother was pushing forward.

"You're no fun" he said, a pout crossing his lips.

"..."

Seeing that Cole didn't seem to be in the mood to talk, Noel sighed.

"Will you at least look at the gift I got you?" He said, showing off the small poorly wrapped gift in his hands.

"..."

Cole continued to stare forward and stay silent, and having become fed up with his brother's unresponsive behavior, Noel huffed and tossed the gift on his bed.

"Whatever" he grumbled before leaving the room and closing the door behind him.

Cole continued to sit like that, even after an hour had passed. It was only then when his legs started to fall asleep on him, that he decided to move. As he moved to leave the bed, his leg had hit the gift Noel left for him and despite not really caring for it, he still picked it up.

It was poorly wrapped with tape randomly put everywhere and pieces of paper sticking out. Cole unwrapped it and inside it was a tiny box. He opened it and inside the box was a bracelet, seemingly handmade with his name on it.

Where did he even get the materials to make this? Probably at school, Cole figured but he just threw the gift in a random clothing drawer.

He didn't want to see it but he also felt like he shouldn't throw it away. Or maybe he should?  He wasn't really sure at the moment.

After closing the drawer, Cole got back in his bed and threw the covers over his head, ready to sleep off all the pain he was feeling.

~ present ~

I was sitting here trying to think back on any kind of memories I had of my birthday, in hopes that I'd remember the date. It was hard, since I typically didn't have good ones and I didn't always like to remember them.

The only thing I was sure of was that it was in the summer time, since I just remember how unbearably hot it was around the time. I don't remember it being near any specific holiday, so maybe not July. Perhaps June? Or maybe August? Who knows.

"Cole? You've been in here all morning, I'm getting lonely" Eros had poked his head into my room with a frown on his lips.

Well, it's our room now I guess. Eros hardly ever slept in his room anymore, every night he'd come and join me for sleep despite me constantly reminding him of his own bed. He didn't care for it either way and it's not as if I minded too much.

"I've just been thinking about some things" I said and Eros nodded.

"Like what?" He asked.

"When is your birthday?" I said and Eros' brow raised a bit, likely because my question was unexpected.

"March 23rd. May I ask why you're inquiring?" Eros said.

"I'm just trying to remember my own" I said, watching as Eros made his way over to me and sat on the bed.

"Well, we can make up one until we find out your real one" he suggested.

"Hm...I'd rather wait. I wouldn't want you to go out of your way to celebrate something that isn't real" I explained and Eros just shrugged before wrapping his arms around my torso but as he did his hand made brief contact with my chest.

Though it was unintended and brief, I still found myself reacting.

"Woah, you okay?" Eros asked, likely feeling the shiver rack through my body.

I was embarrassed to even admit this but my chest has become...sort of sensitive over these past days. Eros has a bad habit of groping them in the mornings and it's come to the point where my body practically expects it now.

"It's nothing..." I muttered but Eros didn't seem to buy it as he peered in to my face.

"You know I'm not letting you off with that. You totally shivered just now. Are you sick?" He asked and began to raise a hand to my forehead to check my temperature.

"No, I'm not" I said, allowing him to do his pointless check. Pulling an unsatisfied look, Eros squeezed my waist in warning.

"Cole, you've got five seconds to be honest with me or I'll punish you" he threatened and I raised a brow.

"Punish...?" I asked and Eros nodded.

"I'm also a very creative guy, just so you know" he added and I just shook my head at his words.

"In the morning, you're always prodding and groping my chest. It's become...sensitive" I said and for a moment, Eros gave me a surprised look before it turned into a sly grin.

"Well I guess that just means your body has become accustomed to my touch" Eros said before reaching up and brushing a finger over my clothed nipple, making me jolt a bit at the sensation.

"See?" Eros said and I glared.

"That doesn't count, I told you they were sensitive" I said but Eros just chuckled.

"Sorry, your reaction was just so cute. I couldn't help myself" Eros said and out of nowhere, I was shifted from in front of him to underneath him.

"How's about a little breakfast?" Eros asked, his tone more than implying of other things.

"Breakfast is in the kitchen" I said.

"Mm, no, breakfast is right here in front of me" Eros said before leaning down to leave a trail of kisses down my neck, all the way down to the collar of my shirt. As he went on, he'd suck on my skin every now and then, a small pinch being felt for a moment before he licked it and moved on further down.

"That's too high...people will see" I said after he left a particular mark right in the middle of my neck.

"That isn't so bad, at least they'll know you're taken" Eros said and then gave me a bewitching smile when looking up to me.

"I can't reach the rest of your skin, love. The shirt has to go" Eros said while tugging at my gray shirt.

Had we not been interrupted, I likely would have removed my shirt without another thought but we unfortunately were.

"What are you guys doing?" The voice startled me but not so much Eros who just turned to look behind him with a frown.

"We're about to get to the good part what does it look like?" He said and I pushed him off of me, feeling embarrassed at being caught in such a position. Eros huffed but just sat next to me with a ticked off expression.

"Well if you ask me, it looked like you were about to devour the poor guy" Mikhail said and Eros crossed his arms.

"That is the good part" Eros grumbled.

"Uh..." As if reading my mind, Mikhail began to answer my silent questioning.

"I knocked a few times and got no answer so I just entered the pin anyways. Come to find out you guys are in here indulging in your desires rather than focusing on the matters at hand" Mikhail said, a smile on his face but his eyes were less than pleased.

"Buzzkill...why don't you go out and get your own lover" Eros said childishly. Mikhail tilted his head.

"Why would I need to do that?" He asked.

"You want to be alone forever?" Eros asked but we were surprised when Mikhail just laughed.

"Alone forever? I have a girlfriend" he said, waving off Eros' assumption. And clearly, Eros was unaware of this by the shocked look that crossed his face.

"A girlfriend? How the hell do you have time to be the mafia FBI and find a girlfriend?" He asked.

"Well, in this line of work you meet lots of interesting people" Mikhail said and Eros just sighed in defeat.

"Guess I still don't know much about you" he said and Mikhail shrugged.

"And no offense but I prefer to keep it that way" he said.

"Okay Hannah Montana" Eros muttered.

"Best of both worlds, right?" Mikhail said, winking before picking something out of his pocket.

"Anyways, the friendly banter isn't what I'm here for. That thing you asked me to handle has been taken care of" he said.

"And you couldn't text me this because...?" Eros asked.

"It's more fun to drop by unannounced" Mikhail said, a mischievous smile blooming across his face.

"I...see" Eros said.

"Just kidding, it's because I wanted to show you this" Mikhail said, holding up a flash drive in his hand.

"This USB contains contacts, times, dates, and places for all of Gabriel Limosa's drop offs and trade shipments for the next three months. I figured you may want to have a little fun with this information" Mikhail said as he dropped it into Eros' hand.

"Jesus, Mikhail, I only wanted to know his next one not three month's worth. The devil works hard but you work harder" Eros said and Mikhail smirked.

"The devil is a slacker" he said.

"What's it for?" I asked after being silent all this time.

"The plan was to reach out to his suppliers and offer a better deal than what's currently in place but with this kind of information, we can change the entire game" Eros explained and I nodded.

"Yes. With this, instead of killing Gabriel, we'd just be killing off his business. Or in other words, push him to the edge" Mikhail said.

"Everyone has a breaking point, it won't be long before he reaches his and we're going to watch from the sidelines" Eros finished.

I had no objections at all to their plans, it seemed pretty bulletproof in itself. It just made me wonder how long it'd be before I have to face my father again. With the way we're coming at him, it's inevitable that we'll eventually come face to face with him. Or maybe he'd meet his end before that?

"His next shipment is at the end of the week. Once contacting the supplier and getting them to agree, should we change the location of the drop off or...?" Mikhail trailed off as he looked to Eros for an answer.

"Nah, let his goons come and see us take their stash. It'll make for some good tension" Eros said and I frowned.

And possibly a shootout...

"Alright then, I'll inform the others" Mikhail said before promptly turning on his heel and leaving the condo.

"I'm gonna change that fucking code" Eros said as soon as he was gone and I looked to him.

"How many people know it?" I asked.

"Just the ones closest to me, but now I'm regretting that decision. Maybe we should just move?" Eros may have questioned it but the clockworks in his mind was working faster than his body could keep up.

"That's it, we're moving" he stated after a few seconds.

"Uh...okay?" I said, not really knowing why we had to move since changing the pin would just be easier but who was I to question anything when I was basically living here for free.

"We need privacy, I can't get hot and heavy with you when there's the chance of these guys just barging in at any time" Eros reasoned, a completely serious look on his face as he said it.

That was his reasoning? Giving a sigh, I watched as Eros left the room.

Well...I guess we're moving?

But that means more work...I think I'm becoming lazy.